UK: Walney Offshore Windfarm to Conduct Post-Construction Environmental Surveys

The marine environment and bird life in and around Walney Offshore Windfarm have been carefully studied before construction of the wind farm was authorised. During the two years of construction, additional work has been done to check that construction activities remained within acceptable limits for noise or other disturbance.

As the wind farm is approaching completion, a series of surveys will be carried out during the next few years to keep an eye on any possible impact the wind farm may have. Only minor impact is expected on the seabed sediments and the marine fauna, including fish and shellfish encountered in and around the wind farm.

Starting late April 2012, survey vessels will take samples to study the marine organisms in and on the seabed, and a specially chartered fishing vessel will also take trial catches of fish using a scientific beam trawl. Later this year, a series of bird surveys will also be made, counting birds in and around the wind farm from a boat.

The results of the surveys will be presented to the authorities and their scientific advisors at CEFAS and Natural England. The surveys will help to improve our knowledge of the sea and its resources in the Walney Offshore Windfarm area.

Mike Robson, Senior Environmental Advisor in the Walney Offshore Windfarms team, comments:

“We’re often asked what sort of effects an offshore wind farm will have on the local environment. Over the years, with the growing number of offshore wind farms that are now built and in operation in the UK and elsewhere, we‘ve built up a fund of experience that helps to predict and minimise the environmental impact. A lot of the early concerns and fears about adverse effects on bird life, fisheries, etc turned out to be unfounded.

 The surveys at Walney will – we hope – verify that the impact is very small – less than the effect of the natural variations from year to year. And surveys can also turn up new or unexpected results – some of them positive rather than negative, and some of them having nothing to do with whether there’s a wind farm nearby or not. When you go out and study an area intensively, you’re bound to find things that haven’t been noticed before.

 So all in all, we feel that the wind farm will contribute to our knowledge of the whole Walney area, and this in itself will benefit other users of the sea.”

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Offshore WIND staff, March 21, 2012; Image: dongenergy